In May last year, all the talk was about how vibrantly the activity in the UK services sector was accelerating. What a difference a year makes as the latest S&P Global UK Services PMI Index for April 2025 dipped below 50, indicating that the sector was contracting. This ended a 17-month run of growth. New order books at service companies
A month ago, all the economic buzz was about the Chancellor’s Spring Statement and the real-world implications as the significant cost hikes from the Autumn Budget finally landed with a shuddering thud onto the business models of UK companies. That seems a lifetime away already, as attention has moved on from more parochial considerations to the global trade turmoil unleashed on
Our last detailed report on the UK construction sector in early November 2024 showed that its finances appeared to be stable but at a relatively low base line. The average financial rating remained at 42 out of 100, and 35% of companies stayed at heightened risk of insolvency. On the other hand, debt was rising, gearing increasing and the percentage of
In an unwelcome verification of the Chancellor’s repeated reminders that we are living in a ‘changing world’, within hours of her Spring Statement her fiscal goal posts were facing an unceremonial relocation by the threat of 25% tariffs on all motor vehicles and parts exported into the USA. This followed hard on the heels of post-Statement observations by numerous economists
How will America’s ‘Liberation Day’ hit UK businesses? After weeks of increasingly fevered speculation, we finally know how the main thrust of the pivot towards protectionism in the US might affect the UK economy and what UK exporters will have to deal with: Tariffs will be charged at 10% on all goods exported by the UK to the USA, with
Major fiscal events are always a game of winners and losers. This Spring Statement was no different, though given the weak state of the UK economy and global uncertainty this was an even more precarious financial tightrope balancing act than many. The urgent need to boost defence spending was largely dealt with through the controversial slashing of the international aid
